Promise
by wonderwall85
Summary: "She promised me she'd never leave."


_**Hello. I'm new to the whole fanfiction/glee thing so I hope this is good. Let me know.**_

**Promise.**

She woke with a start, her eyes snapping open as she inhaled a long, ragged breath. Another bad night…another bad dream. Once reality sunk in though, it almost felt worse. Frowning, she threw the covers off and sat up, looking at the clock. 5:58 a.m. The sun was just beginning to rise, the rays slowly creeping in through the cracks in her blinds, though her room was still mostly shrouded in darkness. She sighed, running a hand through her long blonde hair as she inched her way to the edge of the bed and set her feet on the floor.

She turned, staring at the wispy figure settled in the chair by her windows. The sun was seeping in, mixing with the dust and the shadows, taking shape. "Stop it." She whispered, turning back to face the wall, squeezing her eyes shut, keeping the tears in.

A gentle breeze swept past her cheek. "Don't." She ordered, keeping her eyes shut.

A few seconds later she opened her eyes, cautiously taking a look around. There was nobody there.

Suddenly the room felt incredibly empty.

She swiped a hand across the fogged bathroom mirror, and caught a glimpse of a shadow behind her. She refused to turn. "Go away." She ordered, reaching for her toothbrush.

"_Remember, you have to do this three times a day. Gentle circles Britt. And I bought you dental floss too. You have to use it after you eat."_

"_How am I supposed to remember any of this?"_

"_I'll help remind you."_

"_But what if one day, you're not here?"_

"_Don't be silly." Arms rested around her midsection. "I'll always be here."_

When she enters her bedroom she notices the closet door is open. Sighing, she walks to it and begins picking out an outfit for the day. It was a lot easier when all she had to do was put a uniform on, but those days were long gone, along with everything else she knew. Unconsciously she reaches for her phone and begins scrolling for the number she knows by heart. It dawns on her to stop when the voicemail picks up.

"_**Hey it's Santana…you know what to do."**_

_**Beep.**_

Despite the fact that she knows it's useless, she dials again.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

"Mr. Schuster? Do you believe in ghosts?"

Will smiles sadly. "I believe that when a person dies, they die. But a soul can go on forever."

"Does that mean yes?"

"I…guess so. I don't think they stay here with us. I think they go to heaven, and watch us, waiting until we join them too." He puts a hand on her shoulder and she wants to shrug it off. "Why do you ask?"

She looks up at him. He isn't going to understand. "No reason."

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

She wanders down the hallway, nibbling the thumbnail between her teeth, willing herself not to cry.

"_It's just three doors down from the bathroom. One….two…three. English. 215."_

"_All these doors look the same. How will I tell which is which?"_

"_If you want I'll walk you there every day until you remember."_

"_What if you're out sick one day? What if I forget?"_

"_I never get sick, you know that. And I'll always be here to help you remember."_

"Hey girl, you okay?" Mercedes asks from behind her.

She turns, her eyes shining. "I'm so lost."

Mercedes sighs and reaches her hand out. "You have English with me. I'm late too so we can go in together, okay?"

She nods gratefully, taking the shorter girl's hand. "Okay."

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

"_**Hey it's Santana….you know what to do."**_

_**Beep.**_

She hangs up and stuffs her phone in her bag. She quickly walks down the hallway toward the parking lot, moving really quickly past the choir room when someone calls out to her.

"Hey Brittany." It's Artie. He's wheeling toward her quickly but she can see the apprehension on his face. "You're not coming to glee club?"

She shakes her head and starts to walk again when he calls out. "Brittany." She turns. "I'm sorry."

His sorry sounds like the one someone should be saying over and over again, apologizing for everything they've ever done. But he only says it once. And she can't look him in the eye so she turns and hurries down the hall.

"I am still living with your ghost…" The radio blares on, but she switches the station before the song continues. She's on autopilot, stopping when she should and turning when she has to.

"_See? If you do something enough you don't need to remember."_

"_I don't understand."_

"_It's like your dancing. You practice and practice and practice until you don't even know the steps. They're just a part of you."_

"_Like you?"_

"_What?"_

"_You're a part of me."_

_There's a moment of pregnant silence. "You're a part of me too."_

It's not until she sees the sign for "Lima Heights Adjacent" that she realizes she's gone the wrong way. Well, before it was right, but now it's wrong. It's fifteen minutes out of her way, but it's the only way she knows how to get home so she takes it. There's a momentary stop in front of a familiar home that she doesn't visit anymore, and then she's on her way again.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

Her cats are acting weird. They won't come into her room anymore, but they stand in the doorway and meow. One time she watched Charity sit in the doorway, looking at something she couldn't see. For half an hour the cat sat, eyes glued to nothing, mesmerized. Then she hissed and ran off and she didn't see her for days.

When she enters her bedroom Lord Tubbington is stretched out on her bed, purring, and his fur is moving and indenting over his ribcage like fingers are running over it.

For the first time ever, Brittany chases the cat off of her bed.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

"_Where are you going?" She asks simply, smoothing the tussled sheets on her bed. "We have to go over the song. I'm going to forget it if you don't help me practice."_

"_I know. I'm just gonna run home real quick and grab my phone. I think I left it on my dresser."_

"_What do you need your phone for if you're already here?"_

"_Babe, you know I need my phone. I won't be long. Ten minutes tops."_

_Brittany pouts, emerging completely naked from beneath the covers. She walks over to her lover, placing a short but passionate kiss on her lips, tasting herself again. "If you have to."_

_Santana smiles seductively. "I'll text you when I'm on my way back." She returns with an equally arousing kiss of her own before smacking Brittany lightly on the ass. "Don't get dressed."_

"_Hurry back." She whispers, touching foreheads with Santana. "I hate it when you're not here."_

"_Then I'll always be here."_

"_Promise?"_

_Suddenly their pinkies are linked. "Promise." Another kiss, this one short and sweet, and then she's gone. _

_Ten minutes….twenty minutes….half an hour…two hours…four hours…_

"_**Hey it's Santana…you know what to do."**_

_**Beep.**_

"_You promised." She sobbed. "You promised me."_

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

Quinn's knocking on her bedroom door for the first time in…well, forever it seems. "Your mom let me in." She explains.

Brittany shrugs and catches a glimpse of something out of the corner of her eye. "What's up?"

"Can I sit?" She asks timidly, and Brittany moves from her lying position to a sitting one so the girl can sit on the edge. "I've missed you."

Her mouth twitches. "I miss you too."

"Everyone misses you really. The whole club. It's not the same since…" She doesn't finish her sentence.

Brittany knows the "since." She sighs, running a hand over her eyes. "I can't go back there. I can't take the way they stare at me…the way you're staring at me now."

Quinn looks down, playing with the hem of her dress. Suddenly she's crying and Brittany is sure she can't take that either. She stares past her friend to her bathroom door, grimacing as wisps of a familiar figure lean against the frame, arms crossed at her chest, staring expectantly.

"I'm sorry." Quinn whispers, "I didn't want to do this here. I-I just wanted to let you know that you're not alone. Everyone misses her Britt. Everyone is hurting."

Brittany shakes her head. "Nobody cared about her. Nobody loved her the way I did. Nobody."

"That's not true."

Before she can stop them, the tears began to stream from her eyes and her voice is hoarse and raw. "She promised me she'd come back. She promised me she'd always be here to help me remember. She promised me!" She's sobbing now, and Quinn's arms are around her. She shrugs them off and stands. "I can't remember anything anymore and I'm so lost! I'm so lost and she promised she'd never leave!"

Quinn is standing beside her, grabbing her hand. "I know honey." She soothes, her motherly instincts kicking in. "It was an accident. Sometimes accidents keep us from keeping the promises we make."

Brittany is shaking her head. "No you don't understand." She sobs, leaning fully into the shorter girl's embrace, so much so that Quinn is nearly buckling under the weight. "You don't understand. She kept her promise. She's still here."

She's wailing now and Quinn doesn't know what to do.

"She's still here."

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

Mercedes meets her at her locker in the morning, plastering on her best fake smile. Brittany tries to ignore the sadness in her eyes. "Hey momma." The shorter girl greets. "Wanna walk me to English class?" Brittany nods.

Kurt is there next period. And then Mike, and then Quinn…then Puck. At lunch, Rachel flosses her teeth so Brittany does too. Mr. Schu and Ms. Pillsbury corner her after school and talk for a few minutes about glee and how good it would be for her to express her feelings through song. Brittany knows what's happening, but doesn't go against it. They're trying to help and really it makes her feel a little better. It makes her feel less lonely.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

"_**Hey it's Santana…you know what to do."**_

_**Beep.**_

"Hi…it's me. I-I know that you can't hear this. I know you'll never get this message, but I have to say it anyway. You promised that you'd always be there. You promised that you wouldn't leave me ever. And I know it was an accident and I know that I shouldn't blame myself for not stopping you but I do. Well…I did. Then I blamed you for leaving, but I don't anymore. You said accidents are called accidents because nobody means for them to happen. That's not why I'm telling you this though. I'm…I'm saying this because I need you to let me go. I know we pinky promised on it but I can't take it anymore. I can't take seeing you and not being able to hold you. I can't take hearing you when everything is quiet. I can't take feeling you when I know it's just for a second and not forever. Mr. Schuster said that when people die they go to heaven and watch over us and wait. And my mom says that heaven is a really awesome place so I think that its time you go there. I don't want you to miss out because you can't break your promise to me. I'll understand. And someday I'll get there too, and then we can be together forever like we want. I'll always love you, you know that. Just please…please. Let me go."

"_**If you are finished recording please hang up."**_

She throws her phone across the room and slumps on to her bed, immediately soaking the pillows with her tears. Her breath is coming in ragged gasps and her heart is thumping so hard in her chest it hurts and she just wants to scream until she can't anymore.

Then suddenly, she's calm. It's quiet, and a cooling gentle touch slowly traces up her arm and moves her hair back. She can feel the presence by her ear, and she begins to protest when she hears ever so softly.

"Thank you."

Suddenly she feels like a weight is being lifted from her and a deep, peaceful feeling washes over her like a wave of comfort and she knows that Santana is gone.

"_You're a part of me and I'm a part of you. And we'll be together forever right?"_

"_Forever babe, I promise."_

"_Forever."_


End file.
